George Knapp was joined by David Paulides, a former lawman turned investigative journalist, for an extended update on his captivating research into mysterious vanishings from our national parks and forests. He noted that his previous Coast appearance in March generated an overwhelming amount of feedback, including a variety of theories on the disappearances as well as new cases. Regarding the scope of his investigation, Paulides revealed that he has now collected over 450 cases of these baffling events at national parks. Additionally, he recently spoke at a convention of search and rescue professionals where, following his presentation, several attendees noted their own experiences with these vanishings but had not realized this was such a widespread phenomenon.
Over the course of the evening, Paulides detailed a number of cases as well as trends surrounding these disappearances that he has uncovered via his research. One recurring element, seen when a victim is found, is that they have "scratches on their bodies from head to toe" as if they ran wildly into the brush. Another trend, Paulides said, was that many of the people who disappear were last seen wearing brightly colored clothes. He also observed that search parties are frequently hampered by lengthy storms which occur immediately following the disappearance. "It's so far beyond a mere coincidence, it's unreal," marveled Paulides, who cited one case where it rained for the entire three week period while search teams looked for a missing boy.
Despite the vast number of vanishing cases he has found, Paulides conceded that the reason for the disappearances remains a mystery. That said, he expressed considerable suspicion over the government's perceived lack of interest in these events. "There's got to be some type of cover up on this at the federal level," he contended, "because there's no reason in the rational world why the parks service wouldn't be tracking people who disappear inside their system." To that end, he cited two separate cases where a person went missing and teams of Green Berets were tasked with independently searching the area "as though they were on their own private mission that no one understood."